


Give Them What They Want

by AshesFall (Cloud_Nine)



Series: Lucky Sevens [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Gen, Reference to a possible attempted sexual assault, Team as Family, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-20 12:54:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8249840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloud_Nine/pseuds/AshesFall
Summary: All ninja wear masks, Kakashi's is just the most notable. Or, the team has some mandatory counseling and that brings up some dark thoughts.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This one it a bit darker than the others. Sasuke remembers some not so great things here. Warnings in the tag.

Mandatory counseling. When Kakashi had appeared in their kitchen, again (they needed to step up their traps because Sasuke was tired of not knowing that his teacher had entered their home), they expected more training. Instead, their teacher bundled them up, literally as Sasuke attempted to escape out the window the moment the word counseling left Kakashi’s mouth, and drug them to the hospital. 

The older shinobi untied them and left with a few words of wisdom. “Give them what they want.” 

Naruto and Sakura looked confused at their teacher who smiled gently behind his mask. The silver haired man had been incredibly indulgent since they returned to the village. Of course, Sasuke could still see the viciously sharp and hardened commander that they had relied upon during their month of hell, but his edges were softer here. 

“It’s a game or like a mission, the civilians expect this of us, so we perform,” Kakashi said. “T&I was your real counseling session, and you’ve all been cleared.” 

Sasuke thought back to the latest T&I debrief, it hadn’t seemed like any kind of counseling session, and Sasuke had several after the massacre.

“So why do we have to do it then?” Naruto asked shooting the doctors wary looks. 

“Like I said, it’s for the civilians. They can stand living next to killers all day long as long as they are sure we won’t turn on them,” Kakashi explained again. “It’s standard procedure, and shouldn’t take more than an hour if you do it right.” 

Sasuke nodded. He had played this game before. Kakashi’s one visible eye flickered to meet his own and Sasuke knew his teacher had thought the same thing. 

“What if we do it wrong?” Naruto asked, still concerned. 

“Then swap with Sakura or Sasuke,” Kakashi said easily. “These people aren’t shinobi. A few quick bunshin, a kawarimi, and a henge, they will never notice.” 

“The important part is that you act normal enough to pass,” Kakashi said finally. “Now go.” 

Sasuke shared a look with Sakura who turned to Naruto. 

“Make a clone, have it henge into something small and if you need one of us to swap with you, dispel it and we’ll switch,” Sakura planned quickly. The blond nodded and a quick hand sign later Sakura and Sasuke both had a small henged mouse in their pocket. This would be an easy mission. 

\--

Kakashi watched his team go with an amused smile. He hadn’t lied to them exactly, but he hadn’t been entirely honest either. The session was mostly for the civilian counsel who liked it when shinobi were given clean bills of mental health. Never mind that all of the jōnin were more than a little … eccentric at times. 

Still, the kids didn’t need to know about the ANBU watching them. Kakashi had spotted several masks he recognized in the building already. The kids were coming out of their final watch stage. If they played nice with the civilian doctors they would lose the ANBU guard that had followed them since they arrived back home. Kakashi had finally shaken the one assigned to him last week. 

It was all standard procedure. When shinobi came back from something like that they weren’t immediately released back into the general population. It was T&I, medical, and then something like house arrest for three days under ANBU guard. The kids passed that easily since they were holed up in their safe house for nearly five days before braving the village. 

They were just finishing up the last leg of the reintegration plan, supervised ‘visits’ in the village around the civilians, Naruto’s episode hadn’t been too much of a surprise and didn’t set them back any. If they managed to stay cool and handle an idiot asking painful questions about their time in captivity they’d lose the guards that had been following them since they were released from T&I. 

Kakashi had faith that they could do it. 

\--

Naruto didn’t need to switch with one of his teammates. All three members of Team 7 made it through with few problems. Sasuke’s Sharingan had flashed once, only when the stupid man had mentioned Itachi, but the last Uchiha had gotten that under control quickly. 

They all finished about the same time, Sakura first with Naruto next and Sasuke last. 

Sasuke felt his burn scars twinge from how tightly he had clenched his jaw and he could see the stress in Sakura’s form. Naruto had a brittle smile on his face that looked ready to crack. 

“Let’s go home,” Sasuke muttered. The other two nodded and they left the awful offices for their safe place. 

They kept watch that night. Something they hadn’t done in days. The memories, fresh and weeping from the tactless civilians dragging their poison claws over the not even scabbed wounds, were too close to the surface to do anything else. 

Naruto had taken the first watch without a word and for hours the dark haired genin dozed, barely able to close his eyes at the memories of pain. 

After what seemed like seconds, a soft, “Sasuke,” followed up a sharp tap to his left foot alerted Sasuke that it was his turn. 

Without a word the Sharingan user sat up and took Naruto’s place watching over their safe house. 

Logically, they knew very little could happen to them here, in the village. It wasn’t perfectly safe, of course, but as close as a shinobi would ever get. 

Without meaning to Sasuke found himself on the roof of their home, sitting under the stars watching the flickering lights of the village. It was a military village, after all, it never really slept. 

The Uchiha survivor watched dark blurs vault over rooftops from a distance and could see flashes of fire and lightning jutsu in the distance, someone was training.

It all seemed so normal. 

Sasuke imagined that the village looked like this the entire time they had been gone. Their disappearance likely hadn’t meant a thing to the village. Oh sure it had caused trouble, one of Konoha’s elites, the last loyal Uchiha, and the jinjuriki going missing had some impact but the village as a whole hadn’t cared. It hadn’t stopped what Sasuke was seeing now. The world hadn’t stopped while they were gone. 

It felt that way, though. Sasuke remembered those first few days. His skin felt tight and his body tense. It was likely he had just walked into an enemy encampment. He saw danger everywhere. Sasuke could clearly remember almost attacking that gate guard when he moved toward Kakashi. 

Still, the village didn’t care. “Give them what they want,” Sasuke muttered, as he remembered Kakashi’s advice. 

It made sense. The village didn’t have time to coddle them, they were trained soldiers and whether or not they were traumatized, and traumatized they were, they had jobs to do. 

It wouldn’t be easy. Pretending they were back to normal. Sasuke thought back to the little run in they had with Ino and her team. Sasuke had seen the looks Shikamaru had given them, cautious and frightened. Sasuke smirked darkly at the memory. None of them knew what it was like.They didn’t understand how dangerous this life was. 

And that’s why they play the game, Sasuke concluded. Because the civilians, the genin, they didn’t know, they wouldn’t know, unless they were forced to learn like Team 7 had been, just what was out there beyond the village walls. And they didn’t want to know. They wanted to believe they were safe and that here nothing could touch them. 

Give them what they want, Sasuke thought to himself. Play pretend and find ways to hide the darkness that surrounds you. Sasuke remembered Kakashi gutting one of the guards, the one that had tried to take off Sakura’s top and the practically feral look in his commander’s eyes when he did it. 

Hide it away under masks and behind books. A memory of him and Naruto physically tearing one of their pursuers apart after Kakashi collapsed from chakra exhaustion. 

Smile, or not. Just make it believable. Make yourself seem safe. Sasuke thought about Sakura and how she leaped forward and tore the guard’s throat out with her teeth to get the key to Naruto’s cell. 

Don’t let them see the murderer you’ve become. 

Just give them what they want.

**Author's Note:**

> Like my fic? Wanna talk to me about it?? Find me on discord! https://discord.gg/RAbVVjQ


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